Summer’s Ghost—-Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Posted on September 20, 2016 by Dayphoto

The bees are very busy now…flying back to the hives, their bodies covered with pollen; the droning sound they make so much a part of the landscape one must pay attention to hear it.

The company of the plants are still soothing to the eyes and the soul

But the signs are there; spangling the edges, hurrying the plants along, pushing and a nudging–to set seeds — prepare for that long sleep called winter

The autumn winds will soon arrive, rustling across the plateau, through the canyons and bursting forth upon our mesa—flinging dry leaves across the land, stripping the trees bare

For now the rooted silence is a sort of balm to my spirit and to the earth

But the hint of fall is still there….a flicker out the corner of your eye, a tingle at the back your neck

Yellow leaves

Float quick and light, reflecting back to the wind, the earth and the sky the soon to be ghost of Summer.

From my world to your heart,

Linda

WE FINISHED!!!!—-Monday, September 19, 2016

Posted on September 19, 2016 by Dayphoto

WE FINISHED! Terry and I are dancing with joy….and resting!

Late Saturday evening Terry and I brought home the last two loads. Evan was done with his on Thursday, but we had the huge, gigantic trees left. Four of them. And to clean up the area. See those monsters stacked on each other? There are several stacks around and some tossed into the pile.

It took Terry and I, together-one of us on each side, to lift most of those monsters up and into the truck, then to fling them off.

But we are done!

DONE! DONE!!!!!

And I can proudly say I stacked 90% of this wood into our truck, AND into Evan’s truck.

Now we can rest assured the house will be warm and toasty come winter!

Your friend on a western Colorado farm,

Linda

P.S. We have decided we are NOT going to do wood this way ever again. Ever. Period.

The Shadows of the Moon—September 18, 2016

Posted on September 18, 2016 by Dayphoto

The shadows under the corn stalks start turning blue early; promising chilly starts to the ‘morrow. We’ve been waking up to temperatures between 36-38* f ( 2.22-3.33c) for the last two mornings. Although the days have warmed up to a wonderful 75-77*f (23.8-25c), sometimes, with a light warm breeze. Perfect weather!

The night grows quiet, in the way only night can be quiet.

When there is a full moon, the cats are restless, you can hear the trees creak and crack, as their rapid pulse of summer starts to shrink and flow backward; into the roots— preparing for winter. The corn leaves brush against the stalks making soft little sounds as they, too, dry down in preparation of harvest.

The heartbeat of the earth goes on, but softer, slower.

We are up and about, in the last of the full moon’s descent—morning for us comes before dawn now. Work outside shows blue-white breath, as the chill brushes our faces with icy fingertips.

I watched the moon slip behind the backdrop of the Uncompahgre Plateau (Un-come-pah-gray. The accent is on the pah). So far our air is cold and dry. Which is good–we have pintos down — drying out, before the combine can run.

The night ends in gentle peace. Rapidly the moon is gone…vanished.

Just like an angel come to visit our earth.

From my world to your heart,

Linda

The Moon-Filled Night—Thursday, September 15, 2016

Posted on September 15, 2016 by Dayphoto

As I sit here typing way, the windows are opened to the world; our air is filled with the smell of pulled onions. The ensilage/silage trucks are busy upon our country road/the sound of the corn choppers carrying on the breeze.

Terry is out pulling the last field of the pinto beans…Harvest is underway!

Tomorrow is September’s Full Moon—The Harvest Moon. Traditionally the fullest moon closest to the Autumn equinox is the Harvest Moon. Sometimes the Autumn equinox will will be in October, but only once or twice a decade.

Boomer and I took our walk a little early last night…I really don’t know what the time was, by the silence upon the land said all the equipment, the workers, and the farmers were home. I loved the moon as it broke free of the mountains and filled the leaves of the willow tree with light. My little camera doesn’t take moon shots very well, but I think the leaves helped bring it into focus.

A thundering sunset had faded away and the night was upon us. I love to walk at night, with Boomer…there is no worry or fear of the future, no terror’s of the evil being done in the world to people who don’t deserve such treatment…it all falls away…just Boomer and I and the silence of the night.

We are about done with the huge load of firewood. It’s a relief! We are all tired of it. Terry and Evan cut and I load. Two pick-ups to stack and fill. I am the stacker and the filler of the pick-ups. Sometimes I get behind and they have to stop and help, but not often. I guess I’m proud, of that little fact,…I can keep up with the chainsaws.

Two more days…the end has appeared!

My mother, my brother, and I used to walk down to our grandparents most evenings, in the summer and fall, (when I was young) and Momma would sing “Shine on Harvest Moon” us as we walked, if it was Autumn. I loved that song!

I still do. I sing the words, to myself silently, remembering those days, as we made our way past the orchard to our grandparents house, where we would all sit outside on the big front porch and enjoy the last of the good weather.

From my world to your heart,

Linda

The Light Flooded Around Me—Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Posted on September 14, 2016 by Dayphoto

Yesterday evening, Terry, Evan and I finished our load of firewood for the day and headed home. We actually got done in an hour. We are doing one load a night. The pile is shrinking—thankfully. And growing larger at each of our houses. Maybe by Saturday we will be done. We sure hope so, all of us are getting tired of the cutting and hauling of firewood. 🙂

(Wild turkeys)

Storms rolled in again in the late afternoon, cooling the skies and bringing rain. Still the pintos are doing okay. By tomorrow the rain is supposed to gone for several days. We will begin again in earnest after the storms get out of here. (I would like to share with you a little secret….although it doesn’t look so: Harvest is grueling work–and dusty—and worrisome. Most of all worrisome)

(more wild turkeys)

Terry and I had to finish up some stuff back out on the mud ditch last night, after the firewood.

The sky was stunning.

Darkness rolled up from the canyons, trying to fill the air with shadows. But the light of the setting sun had other ideas.

The deepening shadows turned red and glowed in an amazing splendor behind and through the racing clouds over head.

Terry headed back in, with his load, but I stayed out there. Letting the light flood around me. The silence fell in waves; the minutes with Boomer, myself, the light, and the coming night passed by uncounted for. It was a stunning

From my world to your heart,

Linda

Our Farm is a Peaceful Place—-Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Posted on September 13, 2016 by Dayphoto

But is also is a very busy place. I am late posting today because of so many calls upon my time.

We stir early, early. The day is not even waking, when we stir to life and the farm is whirred into action like a freshly wound clock; the cogs and wheels shifting and spinning until the night rises to meet the day. Then it starts all over again just like magic the next day.

We are working on the mud ditch. What a huge messy job. Terry got the a few of the dams out, I helped with the gated pipe—but we still have to pick up all the syphon tubes. Maybe later this afternoon.

We had several little rain storms move through our place last night. We were out cutting firewood—still several more days to go—when the downpours occurred. Not good for the pulled beans, but it is what it is. We just move on forward.

The little swallows have gone. My heart feels sad…it means summer is officially over. I love their pursuit of insects diving and swooping on slender outspread wings. Still the days are warm, but

I saw a sundog while we were cutting firewood… a cool down is on its way. The oldtimers say in three days.

Your friend on a western Colorado Farm,

Linda

Step Three/Pinto Bean Harvest—September 12, 2016

Posted on September 12, 2016 by Dayphoto

The pinto beans are harvested with a pinto bean combine and pinto bean header.
This is how it works, gently lifting up the rows and moving them through the combine, where it breaks out the pinto beans and put them in the hopper

The trash—everything that is NOT a pinto bean is thrashed and left behind. Now if you have cockaburs, sunflower seeds, or Canada Thistle seeds they will also be combined and flung into the hopper with the pinto beans.

Once there they all go into the truck and hauled to the Beanery, where we are docked for trash in the beans. Therefore, now you know why we always hand weed our fields–the cleaner the beans the more money we bring home. (You can see some of the ‘trash’ [in the back of our truck] which wasn’t cleaned out in with the pinto beans…this is also trash, which will dock us.)

The other problem, with those seeds, is when the pinto beans go over the shaker at the Beanery, they are the same size as a pinto bean and shake right with the beans. If you have too many and have to have the pinto beans triple cleaned….well you get the picture.

A storm is coming in…I hope it stays far way. If it rains we will have a mess with the pinto bean harvest in the field that is pulled. 😦

Your friend on a western Colorado farm,

Linda

Step Two/Pinto Bean Harvest—-Sunday, September 11, 2016

Posted on September 11, 2016 by Dayphoto

Step Two is to blade the beans—which means the next day, after the pinto beans are pulled Terry goes back in with a special blade

Designed to go under the rows of beans, lifting them up and cutting off any weeds or beans the bean puller missed.

All of this MUST be done in the very cool of the morning—it would NOT do to have the pinto beans pods shatter and spill all the pinto beans onto the ground; lost in the dirt.

Once the stems and weeds and pods get to the right level of dryness we harvest!

Your friend on a western Colorado farm,

Linda

Pinto Bean Harvest— Step One—-Thursday, September 8, 2016

Posted on September 8, 2016 by Dayphoto

The pinto beans are ready for harvest. The leaves have dried and fallen off leaving only the pods.

Early, early Terry headed out to put the bean puller on the tractor and get into the field.

It was cool enough he had to put on a jacket. It’s important to go early…long before the sun heats up the earth like an old-fashioned flatiron.

The pinto bean plants need to be cold,so when the tractor goes through the pods stay on the vines, and the pinto beans stay in the shell.

The process is in steps–first the pinto beans are pulled

Laying the beans in neat rows to dry.

Then the bright morning warmed up, gilding everything. It was time to stop.

One field down, one more to go.

Your friend on a western Colorado farm,

Linda

That Hour Before the Rise of Darkness—Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Posted on September 7, 2016 by Dayphoto

Yesterday was the ending of summer.

We turned off the irrigation water

and cleaned all the ditches. Terry created this little device. It is pushed along by the water, lifting and flinging the mud in the ditch in front of it, leaving the ditch clean behind–you can see the different in the water behind the scraper—the water is clear enough to reflect the weeds.

A tiny bit of magic for the [forever] cement ditches. It preserves your back from shoveling.

We finished in that hour before the rise of darkness.

The farm was slowing down, pausing —sighing deeply as the heat of the day cooled and the summer bees slowed their echoing buzz, as they headed toward their hives